3 Introduction 4 Overview of the Health System 5 Hospital System 7 Poverty, Burden of Disease, and Hospital Beds 8 Expenditures for Curative Services 10 Methods to Assess Hospital Performance 11 Hospital’s Capacity and Utilization 13 Hospital Performance 15 Discussion 16 Implications for Management 19 Implications for Policy 20 Limitations 20 Conclusions 21 References 22

Anjo City has two general hospitals. Kosei Hospital, a central medical center for advanced care, and our Yachiyo Hospital for regional care. Recently, Kosei Hospital faced over-capacity problem because of overflow in emergency visits and congested wards due to shortage of post-acute beds. We planned a project to ease the congestion of the central hospital and manage post-acute patients.

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On 5 October the Daily Mirror reported that the Conservative “NHS productivity minister,” Lord Prior, had told the management consultancy McKinsey that the English NHS should scrap half of its hospital beds. Prior had form: in his recent role as supposedly neutral chair of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) he courted media attention for personal views. For instance, he told theDaily Telegraph t...

The Emergency Department (ED) is an integral part of hospitals. Admissions from the ED account for a significant proportion for a hospital‟s activity. Ensuring a timely and efficient flow of patients through the ED is crucial for optimising patient care. In recent years, ED overcrowding and its impact on patient flow has become a major issue facing the health sector. Simulation is rapidly becom...

Vital Signs Location: Durham, N.C. Type: Academic medical center, affiliated with Duke University and part of the not-for-profit Duke University Health System. Beds: 924 Distinction: Top 5 percent of more than 700 large hospitals (300+ beds) in the portion of patients who gave a rating of 9 or 10 out of 10 when asked how they rate the hospital overall. Timeframe: October 2006 through June 2007....

To the Editor: The provision of care for nonsurgical patients in the hospital has been largely debated in recent years. We would like to contribute to the discussion concerning the future of hospital medical wards in the context of the demographic challenge to health care systems due to the progressive aging of the population and of the changes induced by technology (both diagnostic and surgica...